


And Now You Wish That You Meant Something (to somebody else)

by juneytunes



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-09 00:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3228512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juneytunes/pseuds/juneytunes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"-- I left camp with two idiots, do you know what Bellamy would do to me if I came home with just one?" // Raven leads her favorite duo of stoner boys through the woods to help Octavia and Finn. Or, Jasper and Monty annoy Raven until she murders them in the woods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

Jasper twiddles his thumbs and watches Clarke with bitter anxiety. He's been gnawing on the inside of his bottom lip so regularly it's raw and painful; he continues, of course, tasting copper briefly before swallowing it down. The teenage boy has never handled anxiety very well - getting speared in the chest unexpectedly when trying to impress a pretty girl really helped him out with that, he'd brag, only he doesn't brag anymore, either. Bad things happen when he gets too cocky.

That's what Monty always told him, anyway. His half-drunk best friend whose head is drooped against Jasper's shoulder. In Monty's defense, the night _had_ started off with a pretty decent drinking fest, and would have ended that way, too, if Jasper hadn't gotten a little too curious about a girl who was missing the party.

There's a crash, suddenly, and both Jasper and Monty lift their heads to look over. There's a low-risen table, and Clarke is examining Octavia, who's laying flat on the top of it. Her hair is dark, and it's long - it's draping over the side of said table and it's sprawled on the ground. Octavia is sick, and Jasper was the one who had found her in her tent, practically unconscious; crying from internal pain and laying next to a pool of her own vomit.  He isn't too sure what the blond medic had done to her, exactly, but it must have hurt the younger woman. She hisses in pain and slams her elbow against the table once more, which, _oh_ , that must have been what the earlier crash was, Jasper nods to himself. _Good job figuring that out, Jas_ , he thinks. _That's_ what's _really important here._

Clarke looks mildly irritated and takes a step away from the examining table in the Drop Ship. She sighs, "I'm just trying to check your pulse - why do you keep doing that?"

"Because it _hurts_ when you move my arm," Octavia hisses. She's pale and irritable and Bellamy holding her down by the shoulders isn't making her attitude anymore approachable.

"Just _moving_ it hurts you _that_ bad?" Clarke's interest is caught, then. She gestures towards Octavia's arm with her eyes, silently asking the younger woman if she could try to move it one more time. Octavia doesn't look like she's very thrilled with that unspoken suggestion. "... I promise I'll be gentle; and if it hurts, I'll stop, okay?"

Bellamy lightly squeezes his sisters shoulders. She rolls her eyes to look up at her brother who is standing by her head, looking down at her with a face that is practically _insisting_ that Octavia should just go ahead and listen to Clarke. The younger girl shakes her head and sighs in defeat. " _FIne_."

Clarke nods to her and keeps to her word by gently taking Octavia's arm; flipping it over to feel her wrist for a pulse. No issues with her heartbeat, Clarke notes to herself. But when the younger woman's sleeve rolls up, the blond sees something that looks like the start of a rash. She reaches to pull the sleeve up, but Octavia hisses and pulls her arm back and away from the blond.

"Pretty sure you won't find a heartbeat up there, Doc," Octavia gripes.

"Octavia, is that a rash that you have on your arm?"

Bellamy furrows his brow and, without asking permission like Clarke had, pulls the sleeve of Octavia's shirt up her arm to reveal a very peculiar looking rash on her upper forearm.  The younger woman glares up at her brother because _that hurts, you frickin' jerk_!, but she doesn't push it. Bellamy looks distraught enough as it is, and despite the tough persona he likes to think that he's established, Bellamy is just another lost boy who wants nothing more than to protect the ones he loves. Lucky for the bunch of them, Bellamy considers most of the people in their camp his family, now. Even Finn, the boy he argues with the most, ( _now that he seems to be on good terms with Clarke_ ), has turned into the stupid kid brother Bellamy never knew he had wanted.

" _Bell_ \--!" Octavia protests; pulling her sleeve back down.

"Clarke?" Bellamy definitely doesn't miss how Clarke's making that _face_ she makes when things start to make sense to her again.

"Joint stiffness, nausea, irritability,... And then the shape of that rash,..." It looked a lot like a red target was painted onto Octavia's arm. Clarke would have easily mistook it for that, actually, since the younger woman seems to be buddies with the Grounders, who are definitely not afraid of war paint,... But it jogs a memory of two or three years ago, when she had been flipping through one of her mother's medical books and landed on a peculiar sounding Earth disease.

The blond looks up to Bellamy after a moment's pause. "I think it's Lyme disease."

"Is that _bad_?"

Jasper speaks up, and it startles both Bellamy and Octavia, since the siblings sort of forgot that the stoner-duo were even in the room anymore. The brunette's eyes widen - he hadn't meant to scare them, obviously, and silently apologizes to them with both a half-shrug and a small grin.

Jasper steps up to be beside Bellamy; Monty directly behind him, his eyes just as curious as the boy in front of him. Bellamy looks from Jasper to Clarke, generally wanting to know the answer to Jasper's question.

"Well, that depends on how long Octavia has had it," Clarke crosses her arms against her chest.

Bellamy looks down to his sister. "How long have you had the rash, O?"

Octavia takes a deep breath and sits up - her head sort of pounding hard against her skull as she does -, and slowly lets the air whistle between her lips. She shrugs, "I don't know - maybe a couple weeks after we got here?"

"And you didn't say anything to anyone?" Clarke asks with disbelief that someone could actually miss a huge, red rash on their arm of that size. It looked like it practically took up her entire skinny forearm.

The younger woman looks at Clarke hard; suddenly feeling a little interrogated. "What? I thought it made me look like a _badass_."

Bellamy rolls his eyes - at Octavia's reasoning, and at Jasper and Monty sharing a little strangled laugh next to him. Octavia smiles at them, and Bellamy just hopes that the duo doesn't drag his sister down to their depths of stupid.

"Okay, so she's obviously had it for a while, Clarke, what's going to happen to her now?" The older brother asks.

Clarke looks down and thins her lips. "I'm not really sure, to be honest; I only read the chapter about Lyme Disease once, maybe two years ago..."

"But you still remember _something_ about it, right? You'd know if she was gonna --" Monty says; eyes shooting between the five of them and trying not to say the word they were all quietly thinking about. _Die_. "-- Y'know?"

Clarke shakes her head, "From what I _can_ remember, Lyme Disease won't cause - _y'know_ \- even without the antibiotics, however..." The blond stalls, avoiding Octavia and instead looking to Bellamy. "... It can develop side effects that _can_."

Jasper looks at the back of Octavia's head. He can't see her reaction since she isn't facing him, but he can tell by the way she noticeably stiffens that shit just got _real_. "S-side effects?" He asks, worried for her. He looks to Clarke for answers.

"If left unattended, the Lyme Disease could maybe effect her motor skills enough where she won't be able to walk without falling over, or worse case scenario --"

"Oh god, that was the _best_ case scenario?" Monty almost coughs. Jasper makes a face to him that says, ' _yikes_ '.

Clarke licks her lips, a quick nod to Monty before jamming her thumbs into her pant pockets awkwardly. " -- Octavia could develop serious heart problems. It could even lead to heart failure."

Bellamy and Octavia share a worried glance. He breaks it, after a long moment, "Obviously, okay, we don't have the antibiotics here. Is there any other way we can get it out of her system?"

Clarke wants to say _no_. She can't remember if there was a cure for Lyme Disease from when she'd read the book so long ago, but she tries to remain hopeful; she doesn't think she could handle the face the Blake's will make if she were to tell them that all hope is lost.

She sighs. "The only thing I can think of is using the same seaweed that we'd used to fight off Jasper's infection could maybe help the one brewing inside of Octavia. And in the same book, the one with the chapter about Lyme Disease - I remember reading that some _tree_ _honey_ 's can help cure certain diseases."

"Great. So, seaweed and honey is the answer?" Octavia questions; raising an eyebrow in Clarke's direction.

"It could be," Clarke shrugs. "It was for _Jasper_."

Octavia nods and looks back to Jasper, who shoots her a little awkward grin. She almost smiles back at him, but her stomach knots and it feels like someone is literally shoving their hand into her gut and squeezing her organs. She wraps an arm around her aching torso and leans forward, "I think I'm going to be sick --"

The three boys take a step back on that note - and just in time, too, because just as Octavia finishes her sentence, she's hurling all over the floor where they were _just_ standing. Clarke steps forward to quickly pull Octavia's hair back.

Bellamy reaches around to tap his hand in comfort on his little sisters back as she dry heaves, "It should only be a half of a day trip. I'll leave in the morning --"

" _No_ ," Octavia looks up at him immediately; tears running down her cheeks. She grips the front of his shirt, " _Please_ , Bell, don't _leave_ me, you're all I have..."

Jasper watches how Bellamy bites his lip and nods before wrapping his arms around Octavia. She's crying - muffled, but still loud sobs rock against Bellamy's chest, and it echoes throughout the entire drop ship. She's feeling so nauseous and shitty again that she can't fake being strong anymore; there are no more jokes, no more sarcasm... Just her wailing cries as her big brother holds her close. Jasper can literally feel something break inside of his chest as he watches her.

He looks back at Monty, who is looking back at him; already knowing what Jasper was thinking, and nodding his head in silent agreement. The brunette boy smiles, because _man_ , when God was handing out best friends, he sure was lucky that he got Monty Green.

"I'll go," Jasper turns to tell Clarke his bright idea, because obviously Bellamy is too preoccupied with trying to calm his panicking sister down. The brunette hooks his arm around Monty's shoulders and pushes him forward to stand next to him. "-- Me and Monty. We'll go."

Clarke doesn't really have words. It was nice of them, yeah, but... They'd probably just get lost out in the woods and die themselves. "Jasper, that's a really kind offer, but..."

"You idiots would get killed out there by yourselves," Bellamy says bluntly. Monty purses his lips and nods, silently agreeing with the older Blake, while Jasper opens his mouth in mild resentment. Octavia doesn't seem to be crying anymore, but instead is just breathing heavy; face still hidden by her brothers chest. "Finn will go with you."

It doesn't sound like a _bad_ idea, except --

"Yeah, about that,..."

Clarke turns swiftly to the sound of a new voice and Monty, Jasper, and Bellamy look over to the drop ship entrance where Raven is now standing; Finn leaning against her side with his arm slung over her shoulders for support. Clarke curses under her breath because Finn looks like he's about to fall over and he's just as pale as Octavia.

"Finn's sick too," Raven says, dryly.

Monty helps Raven bring Finn into the drop ship and they let him sit on the floor; against the wall Jasper and Monty had been sitting earlier. Clarke crouches down to eye level with him to go over the symptoms, in which Finn just nods his head until she mentions a rash that looks like a big red target.

Instead of replying, Finn moves his leg out and lifts his pant leg; revealing a mark almost identical to Octavia's on the back of his calve.

"How long have you had this?" Clarke asks; blue eyes peering into his so powerful that he has to look away.

Finn stiffens when Clarke lightly grazes the rash with her cold fingertips.  He swallows, "I don't know. Raven noticed it, last night, when I was taking off -- " He stops abruptly so Clarke looks up at him.

Finn is _definitely_ kicking himself for letting anything about his night with Raven slip out. Clarke can see the intense guilt in his eyes when he looks at her, and so she looks back down when she figures out what he was about to admit to her. Clearly the two were being _intimate_ when the rash was discovered.

" -- We didn't know what it was," Finn shrugs, feeling intense pain in his shoulder immediately after. The joint stiffness had obviously kicked in. Finn and Octavia must be at the same stage of the sickness. He grips his shoulder with his other arm, "Raven finally talked me into coming to talk to you when I started to feel sick. That's when we heard you talking to Octavia..."

Clarke fills Finn and Raven in completely; about the symptoms, what it can cause, and what their only options were as far as a cure went.

"Well, obviously Finn isn't well enough to leave camp," Bellamy shrugs. Clearly he was not happy about the recent chain of events. "I'll have Miller lead you. He hasn't gone far away from camp before, I'm worried he won't be able to find his way back, but--"

"Don't be stupid, Bellamy," Raven glares. _Sexist asshole_. " _I'll_ go with Jasper and Monty."

Clarke stands and turns to the group. "Raven, no, we need you _here_. I found the seaweed with Finn and Wells when Jasper was sick, I should be the one to --"

"And lose our only _sort of_ doctor?" Finn raises an eyebrow at Clarke when she turns to look down at him. He gestures to his girlfriend with his eyes, "It's just a six or seven mile walk up the stream, Raven knows what she's doing; she used to help me study for Earth Skills up on the Ark. She'll be just as useful to them as I ever would have been."

Bellamy huffs out a condescending laugh in Raven's general direction. She turns to him with crossed arms her brows furrowed tight, "Something funny to you, Blake?"

"Unless the forest has _cables_ and _wires_ for you to hotwire, I don't see you finding your way around it," The older Blake sibling admits. Raven kind of wants to smack the stupid little smile off of his face. "No, I don't trust it. You're more useful here."

"Listen here, _Bellamy_ \-- " Raven points her finger against Bellamy's chest. Her other hand is in a tight fist at her side and her tone grows tall and fierce, " -- I'm leaving first thing in the morning with Jasper and Monty. We're going to get your seaweed crap and we're going to come back to help Finn and your sister. If you have a problem with it, well, that's _your_ problem to deal with, _not_ mine."

Clarke shares a look with Jasper, Octavia and Monty, ' _whoa_ '.

Bellamy's eyes slim and he glares at the girl in his face. Neither of them stand down, and it's a long few moments before the Blake brother looks away from Raven's hard stare. He terribly wants to show his authority here and let her know that _no one_ talks to him like that, but... She's _right_ , and he's a little desperate to help Octavia at this point. To everyone else's surprise, he nods his head, eyebrows raising, "Fine."

" _Good_. I'm glad you could come to your senses so _easily_ ," Raven's lips thin as she playfully slaps her hand against his shoulder. She ignores Bellamy's grunt as she does. She then looks over her shoulder; back at Jasper and Monty who are still in a little shock at how quickly and calmly Bellamy caved against Raven. "Pack your bags, boys; we leave in the morning."

Jasper and Monty nod to her and she shoots them a toothy grin before walking out of the drop ship and towards her tent. Monty would even swear that she was _humming_ as she strolled out. _Man, was she ever proud of herself_ , he thought.

"Bellamy? Clarke?" Jasper calls for their attention. Raven had made orders, yeah, but ultimately, Bellamy and Clarke were still the head of their camp. Despite how scary Raven sometimes became when she was angry, he answered to _them_ first.

Bellamy sighs; his stare stuck on the direction Raven had gone. He turns back to the boys, "You two should go get your things together. You leave first thing in the morning."

"Alright, boss; you've got it," Monty salutes to Bellamy playfully before reaching back to grab Jasper by the sleeve of his jacket. He starts to drag his friend behind him and towards the exit, "C'mon, Jas - "

"Wait - " Octavia calls. She's sitting on the edge of the table, now, her legs dangling off. She raises her head to look up at the two boys who are watching her carefully. Her dark eyes shine as she smiles, "Thanks, guys; I know you don't really leave camp too often, Monty--  And Jasper,... I know how much you -- how you're still..." She shakes her head after tripping over her words, "I know how big of a deal this is for you. It means a lot to me, too, so thank you."

Monty looks to Jasper and can't help but grin at how _red_ his best friends face had become. Wow, he's got it _so_ bad. The Asian boy looks back to the younger Blake sibling with a shrug, "Of course; you'd do the same if it was Jasper or me --"

"I'd do _anything_ for you, Octavia -- " Jasper blurts out, and hears Monty choke on _air_ next to him. _Oh dear god_ , Jasper thinks and bites his tongue in clear regret immediately. His face scrunches in embarrassment, and he tries to play it off as best he can, " -- Monty _and_ me, I mean. _We_ would do anything for you. Because you're our friend. A-and a _person_ , nothing really special, we'd do it for any person, because that's. just. that's what people _do_ , you know, for other _people_ \--"

"Wow. Okay, so, we're going to leave now," Monty covers Jasper's babbling mouth as quick as he can and starts to drag his idiot best friend out with him. He shoves a red-faced Jasper in front of him before looking back at the group; "You guys'll be at the gate tomorrow - to send us off?"

Clarke looks from Octavia to Monty with raised eyebrows and an amused smile. "Yes, Monty, we will be there."

"Cool."

\---

Raven is the last one to show up -- a little over fifteen minutes after the time they had originally planned on. Or, well... The time _Raven_ had agreed on. She'd be lying if she said that she didn't show up late just to get under Bellamy's skin. She'd tell you that the jackass had _deserved_ it.

She approaches the group with a backpack; her hands gripping the straps securely. Raven grins, her shoulders rising in excitement, "You guys ready to head out?"

"We were just starting to think you'd bailed out on us," Jasper smirks.

She shakes her head, her ponytail flopping from side-to-side as she does. "Yeah, sorry; I wanted to say goodbye to Finn before I left."

"Oh, Jasper - you sure you don't want to say goodbye to Octavia? You know, how _people_ do for other _people_ \--?"

Jasper doesn't hesitate before punching his friend in the arm as hard as he can. Monty grunts but can't help but still laugh at Jasper's _obvious_ reaction.

"Here, take a walkie with you," Bellamy steps between the two friends to hand Raven the device. He ignores the previous conversation; mostly because Jasper's crush on his sister grosses him out, and,... He'd just _really_ rather ignore it?

Raven turns the walkie talkie on and clips it to her belt. She looks back at Bellamy, "I don't think they reach too far; probably only a mile or two."

"Still better than nothing." He responds, in a matter-of-fact kind of way. He eyes her carefully. "Did you pack anything to arm yourselves with?"

"No, I'm a _total_ and naive idiot and expect to survive out there _without_ any weapons," Raven says sarcastically and lifts her shirt enough to reveal the holster with a knife in it strapped to her belt. She watches as he nods, and then puts her shirt  back down.

"I brought my gun, too, Bellamy," Jasper says; revealing his weapon which was tucked under his arm and held up with a red shoulder strap.

Raven eyes the older Blake. "Anything else you got for me?"

He gives her a sideways grin. "Yeah, hurry your asses. And try not to die."

"Be careful, too, alright?" Clarke intervenes when she sees how Raven's nostrils flare in regards to Bellamy's attitude. She puts her hand on her friends shoulder and gives her a reassuring squeeze. "-- You guys will be okay, just stay alert - don't let your guard down for one second."

"Is that some kind of code for don't get _speared_?" Jasper grins. Clarke laughs, a little unbelieving, and the two share a quick hug. She's his savior, after all. He'll always have a bond with Clarke after everything she'd done to protect him when he couldn't do the same for himself.

The blond medic grins, shaking her head as she pulls away from Jasper. "If it makes you feel any more confident, I don't think you'd get speared again. It's like lightning - it never strikes the same spot twice."

Monty hugs Clarke, too. He tells her, "I know Jasper and me aren't the toughest guys in those deep, dark acres of woods - but I'm fairly certain Raven can take down any Grounders who messed with us."

"Yeah, but who says I _would_?" Raven smiles and playfully bumps her shoulder against Monty's.

Bellamy signals for Harper to open the gate. When it starts to creak and open, he looks back at Raven, "Make sure you bring as much back as you can. Right now Octavia and Finn are the only ones infected, but by the time you come back, half of the camp could be sick with the Lyme Disease."

"Got it."

The group shares one last glance between each other before Jasper, Monty and Raven turn to head out. It's still a little dark - maybe around four or five in the morning, and there aren't enough toes and fingers in the world to count the amount of stars that are twinkling above them in the night sky.

"Hey - " Bellamy calls. The three stop to look back at him; Raven, a little unnerved. She expects some kind of rude ass comment about how she's going to lead the two to their deaths. Bellamy clicks his tongue. " -- Watch each other's backs. Come home safe."

Jasper and Monty share a look of surprise while Raven just nods back to him.

"Got it."


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty, Jasper and Raven bond as they hike through the woods on an adventure to save two of their best friends while Bellamy and Clarke realize through Finn's condition how bad things might soon become.

"Octavia?"

Jasper stands outside of Octavia's tent awkwardly. He would knock, only it's a _tent_ and there's _literally_ nothing solid to knock on, so he just kind of stands there fumblingly with his hands gripped behind his back. He feels like there's hair caught in the back of his windpipe because he can't stop clearing his throat; he feels like such an _idiot_. It's just -- well, he was worried, she hadn't shown up for dinner and no one else has heard from her since the morning. And it's not that he was going around asking everyone if they'd seen her or anything -- it just happened to come up with Monty and several others when they were standing around the fire. And, well, Jasper being Jasper,... He had to make sure she was still _okay_.

"Hey -- Octavia, it's me, okay? Can I come in for -- for just a _second_ to talk?" He tries, again; his voice practically drenched in concern and a gross motherly like worry that he didn't even know that he had in him. There's no answer, again, and he knows that she's in there since he can hear a kind of shuffle of blankets, so he takes it as a hint that she just doesn't want to see him.

She's probably still a little pissed off about the whole bridge situation between him and the Grounders, and he gets it,... but Harper and Monroe are _staring_ at him from the bonfire and he's pretty sure their talking about him, so Jasper's definitely starting to feel like a total _creep_. He looks from them to the tent, again, and shakes his head. "Alright - it's cool, I get it..." He shrugs. "Uhm, okay, just. Just come find me later if you want to talk, okay? I'll -- uhm. I'll see you later, Octavia, whenever you're ready for me. So. Okay. Bye."

Jasper turns to walk away. He takes a step and even feels a twig snap beneath the weight of his feet before he hears a _groan_ from inside of the tent. And it's not, like, a groan someone makes when their sleeping, it's more of a _painful-someone-needs-to-help-me_ kind of groan that makes the brunette boys stomach turn. He looks back at the tent and stands absolutely still - not to make a _single_ noise.

He counts to five, and then, "O-Octavia?"

"... Jasper...?"

He turns with no hesitation; her voice just sounds so _strained_ and _tired_ that he can't seem to swallow down the paranoia that something _bad_ is happening to his friend. Jasper steps into her tent and,... _there's nothing out of the ordinary_?

It's dark and quiet and he sees the bump under the blanket that he's assuming must be Octavia. God, he feels like such a _moron_ ; she was probably just waking up and that's why she sounded so tired when she said his name... He was probably waking her up like some over-powering, stalker boyfriend - and he wasn't even her boyfriend! Not even _almost_!

"Mm. _Jasper_ ,"

"Yeah, it's me," He says a little more calmly. She's covering her face with a blanket, and so he squats down at her side to hear her a little better. He's not going to mention it, but there's a weird smell in the tent. Not over-whelming, just. _Weird_. "Look, Octavia -- I'm really sorry for waking you, I was just freaking out for some reason,... I'll get out of here so you can get back to sleep."

He's about to stand up when her hand shoots out from under the blanket and grabs his wrist. And, holy shit, her hand is _cold_. She doesn't have a whole lot of strength in her clutch, so he easily turns his wrist out of her grip, but he'd swear her hand was _shaking_. He looks to her, concerned, "D-did you need me for something else?"

She grunts in response, and he doesn't like the sound of it, so he moves closer -- and that's when he steps in something. He looks down to his boots, and oh _god_ , it's the corn and potatoes Sterling had found and prepared for breakfast... He was standing in her _vomit_ \-- she was _vomiting_?!

Jasper reaches down to move the blanket away from her face and opens his mouth in horrified surprise when he sees just how pale she is. Octavia was shivering like she was cold, and yet her long, usually shiny hair was sticking to her forehead from the sweat. His hand briefly brushes against her cheek when he pulls her blanket down, and he instantly recognizes the same temperature from how freezing cold her hand had been from when she grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, hey -- Octavia, is it a fever - do you have a fever or something?" He leans in closer to her; his hand not moving from the side of her face, instead now he was caressing it. He hopes that maybe somehow this was _some_ sort of comfort to her. He thinks that it might be, when she leans into his touch, thinking that maybe it's because she was so cold and his hands are generally pretty warm...?

"I don't -- I don't know," She swallows. Jasper doesn't miss how her eyes _still_ haven't opened to look at him. "It hurts when I try to move."

"Okay--well, okay, I'll go get Clarke and she can--!"

"No, don't leave me here by myself, _please_ ," Her eyes finally open and, wow, Jasper knows that somehow those eyes lost some of their color and usual sparkle. She's so _scared_ ; he can hear it in the unstable waver in her voice. "I don't know what's happening to me, but--"

She leans over Jasper in an attempt to avoid him as she starts to vomit again.

Jasper leans back and holds his breath -- _that_ was the weird smell. His dark eyes widen as he watches as Octavia's arms shake as she holds herself up so she doesn't land in her mess. When she's finished she wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, and just stares down; her breathing going raged and shallow.

Very slowly, and awfully gently, he reaches his arm out and grips her shoulder. "Hey, Octavia, look at me -- I have to go get Clarke, okay? S-she's the only one who can help you,"

Octavia doesn't say anything, just stares at him -- for probably only a few seconds, but it feels like hours to Jasper. He can notice that her breathing evens out a little, but most definitely doesn't go back to normal. "Wh-what if..." She hiccups a cry. "Jasper, what if I _die_ while you're _gone_?"

It's at that exact moment, at the mention of her dying, that Jasper officially _loses_ his _shit_.

"N-no, I can't -- I wouldn't --" Jasper runs his tongue hard over his teeth, and it hurts, but so does his _chest_ right now. Without another thought, he digs his arms under her form - _making sure to keep her wrapped in the blanket_ \- and he lifts her; holds her close against his chest and lifts her bridal style. She knows what Jasper is doing and instinctively wraps her arms around his neck and digs her face into his shoulder.

If he couldn't bring Clarke to Octavia, he was going to bring Octavia to Clarke. Even if he wasn't the strongest guy around -- not even in this _camp_ ; but the adrenalin running through his veins was more than enough to get Octavia somewhere safe.

It hurts a little -- being moved, but it's better than the alternative. Octavia just doesn't want to die all _alone_.

Jasper makes sure that he's got a good enough grip on her before he hurdles out from the tent and sprints towards the Drop Ship; where he's more than positive Clarke would be found. He knows that not only would Bellamy want to know what was going on with his little sister, but he also knows that right about now -- _since Octavia is so scared_ \--, she _needs_ him. So, Jasper screams for Bellamy as he runs towards the Drop Ship for Clarke.

Monty hears Jasper's yelling and follows. Jasper appreciates it immensely because he doesn't want to be selfish or steal the attention or anything, but -- he really needs the support, and maybe a hug, too.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"I spy with my wondering eye --" Jasper side-glances at his surroundings as he walks beside Monty through the forest. Raven's a few feet behind them; he can hear the leaves and twigs shuffle as she steps through all of the foliage. " -- Something that's _green_."

Monty turns his head towards his friend with an amused grin, "... Is it a tree again?"

Jasper hums a laugh and shakes his head; eyes rolling to look back at Monty a little incredibly. "Are you kidding me? You think I'd really do a tree for the _fourth_ time in a _row_?"

"Jasper, buddy, are you _really_ asking me this-- ?"

"Alright, alright -- " Jasper throws up a hand in defeat; he smiles, "Fine, it's a tree, I'll give you that... But, you have to figure out _which_ tree."

Monty can't help but chuckle over how Jasper thinks he's _really_ thrown him a curveball this time. He looks to his taller friend, follows the direction he's looking in, and points at a tall red oak in the direction the trio is heading towards. " _That_ tree."

Jasper snaps his fingers and sharply knocks his head to the side in obvious frustration. He gives Monty this _look_ \-- and it makes the Asian boy laugh, because despite being the best of friends since,... _forever_ , and the amount of times Jasper does stupid shit and reacts this way -- it's still _funny_.

 "Alright, bro -- I thought we were _friends_ , but friends don't hide their ' _i spy'_ skills from each other, so," The brunette pretends to be betrayed and devastated. He puckers his lips, playfully whacking Monty in the chest, " -- I give up. It's your turn; let your skills shine all you want, you _rat_."

Monty nods with a grin; he doesn't really actually care about the game, it's just-- keeping Jasper amused? If Jasper is distracted, he's not worrying about getting stabbed by Grounders, which is good, even if it's for only a little while. Monty sleeps in the same tent as Jasper, and if anyone knows how much getting speared _still_ haunts the taller brunette boy, it's _Monty_.

He clears his throat, "Alright, well, I spy with my-- "

"Oh my _god_ , If you two don't shut up -- the next thing you're going to spy is me _murdering_ you."

Jasper and Monty both stop walking and turn to look back at Raven, who approaches them with a very dangerous glare. As far as she's concerned, this was their _only_ warning; if they don't stop trying to give her a _migraine_ ,(and _succeeding_ ), she's going in for the _jugular_.

Jasper sighs dramatically, "C'mon, Raven -- the suns already up, we've been walking for hours," he whines; brown eyes following the girl as she moves closer to the duo. "I'd sell my soul to spy a _break_ for us sometime soon?"

 Monty whips an arm out to slap Jasper in his empty stomach with a hallow ' _plop_ '.

"Dude, I wouldn't,... I _don't_ think she's _joking about killing us_ ," The shorter boy says to Jasper in a loud whisper.

"Give me a break; I've got smoke in me lungs," Jasper jokes; bringing his thumb and pointer finger together against his lips as he takes a deep breath and pretends like he's smoking a joint.

Raven shakes her head as she passes the two boys; ignoring their cackling laughter in regards to Jasper being stupid. She doesn't say anything to them as she takes the lead, and so after Jasper throws his arm out to make believe like he's throwing the non-existent joint carelessly into the woods, the two share one last smile before they carry on after Raven.

"I honestly cannot figure out how Finn dealt with you two idiots when you hiked to Mount Weather together," She breaks the silence after a few long minutes.

Monty half-shrugs, "He was still in awe over being on _Earth_ at the time. We _all_ were."

Jasper's grin is gone and his face pales when he looks down to watch his boots shuffle through the dead leaves and dry dirt as he walks. He says, very dryly, "Yeah, and what a fun day _that_ turned out to be."

Out of the corner of his eye, Monty shoots Jasper a worried glance. The attack on Jasper -- it was understandably a _lot_ for him to deal with. He'd almost _died_ , was almost _murdered_ , and he was used as _live bait_... Naturally, especially for someone so young, the brunette didn't usually like to talk about it. Monty, either, actually... He'd witnessed Clarke do some pretty gruesome things to his best friend in order to save him, and honestly, he can't remember a time he'd ever been so terrified of losing someone.

So it was weird to Monty that Jasper had brought it up - _twice_ \- in just a few short hours? He wonders if maybe what happened to Octavia jolted the memory of what happened, or maybe he's nervous about going so far outside of camp? No matter the reason, it's still worrisome, so the shorter boy bumps his shoulder against Jasper's. "Jas... - you okay?"

Jasper thins his lips and nods before giving Monty a weak smile. "Yeah, man," he lets out a long breath through his nose; his hand unconsciously rising up to rest fingers against the still healing wound on his chest. "It's just. I mean -- you know. It's always in my head."

Monty just sort of nods at him; still unconvinced, but deciding not to push any further. His eyebrows furrow in thought as he silently looks ahead.

Jasper grins, trying again to reassure his friend, "Dude, c'mon, don't worry about me so much. I swear to god that I'm okay."

"I'm more worried about Raven getting us all lost," Monty says. The statement isn't true at all; he's far more worried about Jasper's PTSD flaring up. He just doesn't really understand that if Raven was the one who was supposed to lead them to the stream the seaweed could be found in,... why was she _behind_ the duo until just a few minutes ago?

"So I'm, like, ten steps ahead of you -- I can still _hear_ you," Raven looks over her shoulder at Monty, whose eyes grow double in size, "We're not lost, alright?" She looks back ahead with a sigh, "I know exactly where we're going."

The trio's path leads to a steep hill. It might be twelve or thirteen feet tall, elevated as all hell, and as much as Monty hopes the three of them could just go around it,... It goes around _them_ as far as the eye can see.  

Jasper chuckles at the _horrified_ face Monty makes when he looks the hill up and down. It's just,-- Monty is not a very physical guy. Need him to hack into a super computer, or re-wire an entire processer? Yeah, okay, _fine_. Run a marathon? Climb _this_ hill? Not so much.

"I guess the only way is up?" Jasper nudges his friend with a laugh.

Monty shakes his head, mouth open in panic, "How does someone even _begin_ to climb something like _that_?"

"They start with their nails," Raven shoots Monty a toothy grin before leaning forward and digging her fingers into the muddy hill; beginning her climb upwards on all fours. It's almost like climbing a small, slightly slanted mountain. When she's pulling herself up and over the edge, she stays on her knees, looking down at Jasper and Monty who haven't even started. She takes several deep breaths, and smiles, "What'sa matter, boys? Afraid to get a little dirty?"

Jasper makes a ' _pfft_ ' sound, leaning forward and doing the same as Raven, while Monty still hangs back.

"No, I'm afraid of making a total ass of myself, if you must know." The shorter of the boys responds with raised eyebrows.

Jasper laughs and reaches up to grab the ledge of the hillside. He doesn't have a whole lot of muscle either, he's afraid to admit, so he grunts as he pulls himself up the rest of the way. Raven helps him a little by grabbing the back of his jacket and making sure that he doesn't fall back downwards.

"C'mon, man, you've got this," Jasper cheers; trying to catch his breath and standing with Raven. "It's _not_ that bad. There's no way around it!"

"Just pretend there's a huge ass monster behind you," Raven tries with a shrug.

Monty takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly through his mouth. He looks from the bottom of the hill, to back up where his friends are standing. He rolls his eyes, "Really, guys?"

"Really, really," Jasper confirms.

The boy standing at the bottom of the hill shakes his head and grunts. Jasper can _almost_ hear him whisper something under his breath about hating him. He hesitates a bit longer, but Monty  eventually ends up leaning forward and digs his way towards the top.

"Monty, hurry! The monster is coming closer!" Raven encourages with false concern.

Jasper laughs, pointing aimlessly behind Monty, "Oh sh-- man, it's totally gonna bite you right in the ass if you don't move it!"

Monty hits his forehead against the dirt. "I hate you guys _so_ much."

"I think I see horns -- and a tail!"

"Oh man, it's gotta be like-- thirty or forty feet tall!"

They go on from there, and Monty actually finds strength with their yelling,... mostly because their _annoying_ and he just wants to _end_ it. And so, with one final heave forward, Monty grips the edge of the cliff,-- only his fingers start to slip, and he whispers an, " _oh shit_ ", before closing his eyes and preparing himself for the worst.

"Hey, we've got you," Jasper says calmly as Raven and himself grab either of Monty's arms and pull him up to his knees.

Monty pants and nods his head to Raven and Jasper who are both smiling proudly at him.

Raven pats him on the back, "You did good."

"Yeah, hey, we should put together one of those marathons we've read about in the history books," Jasper jokes, just before standing. "I'm sure we'd make at least--... fourteenth, maybe _eighteenth_ place?"

"Good luck on that," Monty stands. Raven grips his arm to help him up since he still looked a little wobbly. "... maybe in the next millennium?"

"Yeah, okay, it's a date," Jasper laughs. Monty and Raven, do, too.

When the trio turns to start on their trail again, they can see right through the trees -- and they see a _stream_ flowing wildly in the distance. Raven can finally start to feel some weight lift off of her shoulders.

She raises an eyebrow to Monty, still smiling, "Still think we're lost?"

He tilts his head, nods, and thins his lips, "Remind me to never doubt you again?"

"Never, ever doubt me - _ever_ \- again," Raven laughs and hooks an arm around Monty's neck; holding him tightly against her side and fingers gripping at the loose collar of his t-shirt.

Jasper watches his friends fondly and with a proud smile. Just like the rest of the one hundred delinquents, they've had a hard time, too. Everyone, everywhere -- _despite their situation_ \-- they need a moment like this; where you can just mess around and have a good time with your best friends.

"What the hell are you doing all the way over there, _goggles_?" Raven laughs; her arm outstretched for Jasper to link up to. She's obviously thrown him from his thoughts, because she watches him blink in surprise. She waves her hand to usher him over, "C'mere."

"You're never to leave a woman in waiting, Jas," Monty laughs; still tucked under Raven's arm.

Jasper bows his head and laughs. His eyes roll to look back up at his two friends -- the both of them giving him toothy grins; Raven singing, " _y'know you wa~nna_ " repeatedly.

And so he shakes his head, a grin beaming from his chapped lips, and steps under Raven's ushering arm to allow her to snake it around his neck and tug him against her side.

Raven looks at Jasper and then at Monty; they both tangle an arm around her, too, and so they've formed a chain. She asks, beaming, "... are you two ready to go find some seaweed or _what_?"

"Are we ever," Monty snorts.

"Lead the way," Jasper smiles and gestures towards the creek with a nod of his head.

And so she does. Keeping her arms tucked securely around the necks of her two favorite stoners, Raven leads the two downhill and towards the stream that Finn and Clarke had described to her.

None of them notice, yet, the dark clouds breezing over them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Clarke takes a knee and leans over a sleeping Finn to cover him with a warm blanket she'd found stuffed behind wreckage from their crash landing weeks ago. The teenage boy had gone quiet about an hour ago; just after the blond medic had asked him routine questions in regards to any additional symptoms. He complained about his knees and calves aching something awful, and turned away from her; to face the DropShip wall.

The blond stares blankly at the back of Finn's head for just another moment before she stands straight and hears a light ' _plop_ ', as something falls against her boot. She looks down and notices a,... pack of cards? Curiously, Clarke bends back down to pick them up. She twirls the ordinarily small, mildly heavy cardboard packaging in her fingers and admires the king and queen picture printed on the front of the box. _Was this wrapped in the blanket_?, she wonders.

"What's that?"

Clarke glances over her shoulder to see that Bellamy is quite suddenly standing in the doorway of the Drop Ship. She turns back to ogle the cards in her hand again, "I found a pack of playing cards... I haven't seen one of these in _years_."

Bellamy nods; not very interested. "How's Finn?"

The blond stands; cards in hand, and faces Bellamy with a shrug, "He's alright -- just fell asleep,"

He nods before taking a deep, exhausted breath and sitting down on the examining table Octavia had been on earlier. Bellamy sighs and runs his hands down his face;  they stop to clamp over his mouth as he stares off in thought.

Clarke sits next to him, "Octavia doing okay?"

He nods, moving his hands from his face to instead grip his knees, "Yeah. She didn't wake up at all when I carried her back to her tent; or when I cleaned up the mess she'd left behind."

"It was nice of you to do that. I think she'll feel better not being _here_ when she wakes up," Clarke says; her fingers fiddling mindlessly with the box of cards on her lap.

"Yeah, well,... It's what I'm here for," Bellamy grins. He looks at Clarke, a little more serious, "What are we going to do to stop Lyme Disease from spreading?"

Clarke shrugs; a vacant stare on her face, "It's not contagious at all. It's actually spread by an insect that crawls under the first layer of your skin and drinks blood; it's called a --"

"A tick," Bellamy finishes. Clarke nods her head to him; a little impressed. He shrugs with a smile, "I _know_ stuff."

The blond grins, "Well, a deer tick, if we're being exact,"

"Well we'd have to be exact in order for you to one-up me, wouldn't we, Princess?" Bellamy laughs, and Clarke follows suit; making it easier for Bellamy to admire her smile. The sound and the joy of it reminds him of his mother when she would watch reruns of her favorite shows that had aired more than one hundred years before.

With a genuine grin, the medic clears her throat and tugs a static, blond lock behind her ear. "-- It won't spread further if we educate the others on what to look for. Unfortunately, we're in the middle of the woods, so ticks are bound to happen."

Clarke supposes it would be easy for such small insects to survive through a Nuclear Holocaust. After all, even though it was sometimes just a joke up on the ARC -- she knew that _cockroaches_ were supposed to have survived it, too. Thank God she hadn't seen any of those yet, however. She'd rather deal with the river monster again.

It's quiet for a moment or two, interrupted only when Bellamy clears his throat -- "How about a game...?"

Clarke purses her lips curiously and raises a brow, head spinning to glare a little foolishly at the older boy. "E-excuse me?"

The older teen hiccups a laugh before glancing down to the pack of cards still nestled in Clarke's hands. The blond looks down to realize what he'd meant; thinning her lips with a slight nod of embarrassment.

"There's just the two of us here; how about a game of Heads-Up?"  His brown eyes look to hers, and he can't help but shoot her a sideways grin. "Awh-no. Don't tell me they never taught the Princess how to play Texas Hold 'Em...?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I was taught by the best," Clarke boasts, matter-of-factly. Bellamy grins and reaches for the pack of cards, which Clarke gives up to him easily.

She watches intently as he slides the 52 cards out from their packaging and shuffles them with ease. Clarke can't help but notice how experienced he looks with them. "Yeah? And who's that?"

She hesitates. "My _father_ was. He used to play with my mother and the Chancellor in our room all of the time."

Bellamy runs his tongue along his teeth and looks up to Clarke, who looks very lost in her thoughts; her soft blue eyes staring dazed at the cards in his hands. He doesn't particularly like where their conversation has gone, considering anyone with eyes can see how Clarke gets whenever her father is mentioned. Bellamy tries not to dwell too much on how her hand fiddles with the watch on her wrist.

He looks back down, "Your father -- he always _won_?"

"Always."

"Well, that's good," Bellamy deals and faces down two Hole cards to himself, and then to Clarke, before he sets the pile between them.  He looks back up to see that the blond is already looking back at him. "It's good to hear that the Chancellor lost something,... other than one hundred juvenile delinquents, I mean."

Clarke genuinely smiles and rolls her eyes, "good one."

"Thanks, I thought so too," He grins back to her and reaches over to flip their three community cards before the first bet.

"Raven--"

Clarke picks up her cards and hardly hesitates when she hears Finn's strained voice from behind her. She doesn't think anything of his mistake; she assumes he's just tired, and she says, "Raven left already, Finn, remember?"

Clarke doesn't look back at him, but she can hear him growing restless and thrash around where he lays.

"Raven don't be like that, okay? I would do it all over again --" He says, "-- Saving you isn't an option, Raven, it's an _obligation_."

The blond looks up from her cards to catch Bellamy's equally confused stare. She turns her head to peak behind her, at Finn -- who is now sitting up, the blanket she had covered him with earlier tossed down to his feet. His head rests in his hands and his breathing picks up; back rising and falling in a near rugged heave.

"Finn?" She calls.

The boy in question shakes his head; face still hidden by his hands. "Don't cry, okay? I'm swear I'm fine... They feed us three times a day here, which is... three times more than they fed us as orphans, right?" He muffles a small laugh against the palm of his hand.

"Finn -- " Bellamy's voice is strong and urgent. He stands up from his game with Clarke; setting his cards face down in front of him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Take extra notes in Earth Skills, won't you? ... You know how I like to read about that stuff,"

Clarke scoots from her seat and quickly approaches her babbling friend; his head lifting from his sweaty palms the moment Clarke grabs at his shoulders with her cold touch. Finn's eyes are on her in a second, but his stare seems distant -- like he couldn't actually see what was happening.

"Finn?" Clarke tries again for his attention.  
  
The boy doesn't respond; he just stares off, his dry tongue clicking in his mouth. Clarke presses her palm flat against his clammy forehead, and as she had expected, Finn was running a high fever.  She curses to herself and hears Bellamy approach them.

"He's burning up," She says, dryly. The hand against his forehead moves to his chest, where she tries to gently push him to lay down. He allows her to lay him down, but shocks her when his hands cover her small one against his beating heart.

"I'll always be here for you, Raven," He says through shallow breaths. He cracks a smile, "I have to be. They locked me up in here."

If it weren't for the sudden seriousness of Finn's condition -- how rapidly his heart was beating, his disorientation and how it seemed he was struggling to take a breath,... Clarke might have _laughed_ at his stupid joke.

"Clarke -- What's happening to him?"

"He's  hallucinating, has a rapid heartbeat and he's having trouble breathing," Clarke reaches for the blanket he'd kicked off, and re-covers him. Finn's eyes are still open, but thankfully no longer looking at her, but at the ceiling of the Drop Ship. There is liquid pooling in the corners of his eyes and she can see that he's in pain with his breathing.

Bellamy sucks in his cheek and bites down, "Because of the Lyme Disease?"

"No," Clarke shakes her head gravely and watches Finn's eyelids lower shut at he passes out in front of her. She looks behind her, up at Bellamy who's looking back down at Finn with a worried gander. "... These aren't symptoms of Lyme Disease."

"What does _that_ mean?" Bellamy's attention is suddenly very on Clarke. "If it's not Lyme Disease --?"

Clarke takes one last glance at Finn before standing; and turning fully to face Bellamy who is about three seconds away from springing into full panic mode for his sisters mysterious new condition.

"It's Lyme Disease, it has to be," The blond defends, waving her hands at the older delinquent to calm down. "... Nothing else leaves that distinct of a mark."

Bellamy looks at Clarke hard; his muddy eyes bouncing back between her own.

"O told me that when you went to find food at Mt. Weather, you ran into a buck, and that it had deformities --"

"Yeah, it had two heads," Clarke remembers. For just a second, the figurine Finn had made for her in its image flashed through her mind. "What does that have to do with this?"

Bellamy blinks. "Well, Bucks didn't look like that one hundred years ago, Clarke."

"So?"

"So, after one hundred years of time and radiation, a Buck evolved into something _different_ ," He explains. There's a moment of silence, when a clash of thunder roars from outside of the Drop Ship. "Isn't it possible that Lyme Disease could evolve just the same?"

Clarke nods to him; his theory making sense. She crosses her arms and holds them against her chest. "Bellamy, even if that's true,... It sounds a lot like being back at square one."

There' s another roar of thunder outside, but this time it's followed by a wave of pitter patter as rain starts to pour down from the sky. Bellamy tears himself away from Clarke, to instead look outside -- at how the sky lights up with flashes of lightning and then quickly followed by more bangs of thunder.

Something in the pit of Clarke's stomach starts to ache as she thinks about how her friends are out in the woods somewhere with a huge thunder storm following them on their toes. 

"They're going to be okay," Clarke isn't sure who she's trying to convince. "... They're _all_ going to be okay."

Bellamy nods; letting out a deep  breath slowly between parted lips. "I have to go get Octavia."

Clarke watches him walk out into the rain and feels a gust of wind blow through the Drip Ship hard enough to send 52 playing cards into a whirlwind of a mess.

 

/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I had the first part done since forever, but I felt a ton of pressure trying an attempt at Bellarke ahaha

**Author's Note:**

> My first chapter fic in years. Let's see how this goes! Also, I literally googled the symptoms for Lyme Disease, so it may not be 100% accurate but you'll find out in the next chapter that it doesn't really need to be. :x   
> The title comes from the song, "Something" by Escape the Fate... because it was playing when I was trying to come up with a title? :/


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